20 Jun 2012

L'Occitane Angelica hydration face mist review

Face mists are one of those slightly controversial products - some swear by them, others think they're water in a can. Recently, there's been a lot of hype over a face mist by Caudalie, and it's started up this whole debate again. I was kind of on the fence with this, so when I heard about the new hydrating face products from the L'Occitane Angelica range, I took the opportunity to decide for myself and try my first face mist

Angelica hydration face mist is designed to refresh and revitalise the skin. You can use it as a last step in your cleansing routine and also to re-charge the skin at any time of day. Also, it claims to give a long-lasting effect to your make-up if you use it as a finishing spray.

The hydration face mist combines organic angelica water and essential oil and it smells divine. I know I have a bit of a habit of loving the smell of just about 90% of the products I use, but seriously this one smells like heaven in a can and I'm guilty of more than a little over-spraying because of this!

I've been using the hydration face mist daily in all of the ways suggested. So I spray it on as a last step after cleansing and moisturising at night, and I've been using it as finishing spray over my make-up. It's lovely to use at night as it makes my skin really refreshed and it feels like a treat for the skin.

I was a bit dubious about spraying this over my make-up the first time as I'd just spent a good 20 minutes applying it and didn't have time for it to be ruined. I made sure to hold the can a good distance from my face and just got a really fine mist of the product on my face which I could hardly even see on my skin. I found it slightly hard to tell if this made my make-up last longer as I use Estee Lauder Double Wear anyway, but I have noticed that it prevents my makeup getting that cakey look. I actually forgot to spray this on today (as I'd left the product where I'd been photographing it #bloggerproblems) and my makeup did look a little bit cakey when I looked in the mirror to apply my cleanse and polish tonight, so I'll be straight back on this tomorrow, plus I can't live without the smell.

I'll be genuinely sad when my can runs out and I know I'll replace it straight away. I'm not sure how much longer this will last me as it's hard to tell with a spray can, but it still feels very full even though I've been spraying it rather liberally for the past two weeks.

L'Occitane Angelica hydration spray costs £15 for 100ml, which I think is much better value for money than the Caudalie product which I think is £30 for the same amount of product. You can get the Angelica range direct from L'Occitane here - also they have a sale going on at the moment with lots of their lovely ranges discounted, so definitely worth checking out.

I also just want to give a mention to the new range of L'occitane colognes. I didn't pay a lot of attention to these when they were launched, but I got to see them up close and of course have a little whiff when I was at a L'Occitane store on Saturday. My boyfriend was buying me the Pivoine Delicate perfume (although I'm not allowed it yet as it's one of my anniversary presents) and when the shop assistant was wrapping it up she sprayed some tissue with the green / yellow cologne - Eau Universelle. The gift bag was overflowing with a beautiful sharp citrus fragrance, so I just had to go and inspect this range a little more closely.

There are three frangrances - Eau Ravissante (for women) is a citrus floral fragrance, Eau Universelle (unisex) is the citrus one sprayed in my gift bag with bergamont and grapefruit, and Eau Captivante (for men) is a more deeply zesty scent with lime, bergamont and mint.

They're all sort of similar but different if you know what I mean - they're very complimentary of each other. Eau Universelle is my favorite. Also I need to add that these are colognes, so they're a weaker type of fragrance which you wouldn't expect to last very long, but the lovely smell really lingered in my gift bag and the samples I sprayed on my arm were still evident hours later.

You can get these colognes in a massive 300ml bottle size for £37 here and I've heard they can also be used like a bath oil too. They also come in a 50ml handbag size for a purse friendly £21.

So back to face mists - have you tried one and do you think they're worth using?